US Hospital Pays Ransom To Free Its Files

[Bambino]

Ransomware. Been around for a while, but getting more serious. Scary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35602527

[Cleoriff]

It is scary. Not sure they should have paid if honest. It paves the way for others to try the same. It does say this happened in the UK at a Lincolnshire hospital...they refused to pay and got the system back up and running...

(mind you the UK hackers were only asking £350)

[Bambino]

Apparently, the only way to avoid having to pay is to have your files backed up. I was watching a US news program and even the security experts were saying there was no choice but to pay. The encryption software the hackers are using has become much more sophisticated, and imposssible to crack. In this particular instance, the ransom wasn't a large amount, but that will change as the hackers become more brazen.

[Cleoriff]

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@Bambino wrote:

 The encryption software the hackers are using has become much more sophisticated, and imposssible to crack. In this particular instance, the ransom wasn't a large amount, but that will change as the hackers become more brazen.

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Yes that's the worrying part of it all. I suspect there are unscrupulous people working on this now.

It's despicable they are targeting hospitals putting lives at risk

[jonsie]

Shameful and disgraceful acts by these scum. People could very easily die and it's another form of terrorism in my opinion.

[Curr946]

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@jonsie wrote:

Shameful and disgraceful acts by these scum. People could very easily die and it's another form of terrorism in my opinion.

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I tend to agree. But it's not new, ransomware has been attacking small business and consumers for many years. And I'm sure it's not thw first time a large organisation has been targeted. What's more scary is that the data wasn't backed up and recoverable / accessible else where

[Bambino]

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@jonsie wrote:

Shameful and disgraceful acts by these scum. People could very easily die and it's another form of terrorism in my opinion.

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I agree @jonsie. The motive driving these lowlifes is money. It's compounded by them insisting payment is in Bitcoin, making it virtually impossible to trace.

[jonsie]

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@Bambino wrote:

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@jonsie wrote:

Shameful and disgraceful acts by these scum. People could very easily die and it's another form of terrorism in my opinion.

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I agree @jonsie. The motive driving these lowlifes is money. It's compounded by them insisting payment is in Bitcoin, making it virtually impossible to trace.

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Bitcoin seems to be a big problem. I don't really profess to know exactly how it works but this is a global issue that the authorities need to combat. I never thought I would see anything like this in my lifetime. ...

[Cleoriff]

I saw they demanded payment in bitcoins. Wasn't entirely sure of the relevance of that. Either way, they are scum..